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About the council The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is a nationwide, nonprofit organization of public officials who head departments of elementary and secondary education in the states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. CCSSO provides leadership, advocacy, and technical assistance on major educational issues. The council seeks members’ consensus on major educational issues and expresses their views to civic and professional organizations, federal agencies, Congress, and the public.
Gene Wilhoit
Gene Wilhoit became executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers in 2006.
He began his career as a social studies teacher in Ohio and Indiana. He served as a program director in the Indiana Department of Education, an administrator in Kanawha County, W.Va., and a special assistant in the U.S. Department of Education before serving as executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education from 1986 to 1993.
From 1994 to 2006, Wilhoit was director of the Arkansas Department of Education and deputy commissioner and commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education. In those positions, he shepherded finance reform, led equity initiatives, designed and implemented assessment and accountability systems, advanced nationally recognized preschool and technology programs, and reorganized state agencies to focus on service and support. Wilhoit has a bachelor of arts degree in history and economics from Georgetown College and a master’s in teaching, political science, and economics from Indiana University Bloomington.
He is a member of numerous education organizations, has served on national and state commissions, and has written and spoken on a variety of education issues.
Resources
The Council of Chief State School Officers released a revised set of education leadership standards in 2008. These revised standards, based on 1996 standards by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium, were developed by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration, a steering committee of 10 membership organizations that represents state policy makers, school leaders, professors of education, and other scholars, with support from The Wallace foundation.
The ISLLC standards guide leadership policy and practice at the state level. A database of research and other sources of information supporting the six standards is available online at www.ccsso.org/ISLLC2008Research.
The Wallace foundation web site, www.wallacefoundation.org/KnowledgeCenter, offers reports and information about education leadership issues.
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